Research Overview

I am an early career researcher with expertise in politics and security in Eurasia, the dynamics of conflict and political violence, and social movements.

My doctoral research at the University of Birmingham has examined ideological variance and change in organised political violence. Leveraging my fluent Russian language skills to apply social movement theory to unique primary source data, I conducted a rich empirical study of the North Caucasus insurgency. I interrogated important questions relating to how insurgent leaders defined the conflicts they were engaged in and sought to persuade others to participate, and how ideological content interacted with group composition and the broader political environment. My PhD is entitled ‘Interpreting the Ideological Evolution Of An Insurgency: Lessons From The North Caucasus, 2007-2015.’